A day-to-day, true to life drama of aJamaican male,livingandworking in Japan.

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Monday, September 3, 2012

Japanese Toilets / First Week Of Work After Japan Summer 2012 (~_~;)/

Days 1621 - 1627Sunday, August 26 - September 1, 2012

Day 1621 ( Last Beach Flex For Summer 2012 )
Sunday, August 26, 2012

Met some fellow Jamaicans at the beach where the summer events were kept, not too far from where I live. Every single one of us missed the stop and had to turn back. The weather was great but the sun was shinning as if it was also aware that in the next couple of weeks, we won't be feeling it for another 8 months. So it was giving us its final extremely hot shine.

Melissa who recently went back to Jamaica brought back some good St. Mary Banana chips for us as well as tamarind ball, which I haven't tasted in ages.

Actually I should have performed tonight in Harajuku, Tokyo at the monthly "Writer's Bloc" poetry thing they have at the Jamaican restaurant there. But because I was at this beach about 1 hr 30 mins from Harajuku, I decided to skip this month again.

It was a great time with the other Jamaicans though. Its always exciting to meet up with other Jamaicans and just relax or do anything.

This dude was also at the beach.

I heard this dude is at the beach every year
shocking the wits out of everyone

The best stewed chicken I've ever had in Japan

I think this was mackerel. But quite huge

Melissa and Kerry

The happy crowd.
The Japanese dude in the white lived in Nanyville, Kingston,
not one of the safest communities in Jamaica

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Day 1622 ( Japanese Toilets )
Monday, August 27, 2012

First day of work after 6 weeks of well needed holiday paradise... Oh Lord it wasn't fun. Had only 4 classes and work ended at 12 but I was still tired. To top it off, there was no school lunch this week, so I had to walk in the sun to a restaurant to have lunch.

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Japanese Toilets

I decided to write about this because one of my friends prompted a discussion about it on facebook. Actually there is this "Jamaicans in Japan" group on facebook where we discuss all sorts of interesting topics. Some of which I plan to include in my blog later on.

You can see the paradox in Japan by using their toilets. If you go to certain places you will see these that I call the "squat-let:"

Japanese Toilets - Squatting made easy

Squatlets - Building thigh muscles since 1192

Why does Japan still have these toilets in 2012? I do not know. But then again, if they are already used to these toilets, who are we foreigners to complain about them?

On the other hand, there are these toilets that our western brains can't quite wrap our heads around. I call them the "warm and spray your a$$-let". This toilet has a built in wash let thing to clean wherever you want to clean. A friend of mine who visited Japan recently, jumped off the toilet while experimenting with it. When you press the button for washing, warm water will be sprayed up your A$$. Don't worry, it will stop instantly if you jump off.

Run out of tissue? That's no issue

Check out the inside

Then there are the toilets where as soon as you finish using it, it flushes automatically. If it doesn't, then either it is malfunctioning or you need to wave your hand by the infrared.

Infrared-let, also washes your A$$

Where else do you see these stuff?

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Day 1623 ( Samsung Pays Apple in Coins After Losing, But Apple Loses in Japan )
Tuesday, August 28, 2012

As mentioned earlier, this week there is no school lunch which is good and bad. Good, we get to go home early, bad, we teach 4 classes then have to go buy lunch afterwards.

Today I had lunch with a fellow employee of my company. We ate at a Chinese restaurant then had some parfait at an ice cream restaurant of sorts. We also shared some lesson plan and game ideas.

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Samsung Pays Apple $1 Billion Sending 30 Trucks Full of 5 Cents Coins

more than 30 trucks filled with 5-cent coins arrived atApple’s headquarters in California. Initially, the security company that protects the facility said the trucks were in the wrong place, but minutes later, Tim Cook (Apple CEO) received a call from Samsung CEO explaining that they will pay $1 billion dollars for the fine recently ruled against the South Korean company in this way.

the funny part is that the signed document does not specify a single payment method, so Samsung is entitled to send the creators of the iPhone their billion dollars in the way they deem best.

This dirty but genius geek troll play is a new headache to Appleexecutives as they will need to put in long hours counting all that money, to check if it is all there and to try to deposit it crossing fingers to hope a bank will accept all the coins.

Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, told the media that his company is not going to be intimidated by a group of “geeks with style” and that if they want to play dirty, they also know how to do it.

Apple loses Samsung patent infringement lawsuit in Japan

While Apple has scored a big patent judgment on its home turf, it hasn't been so fortunate overseas.

After winning a lopsided $1 billion damages award against Samsung last week from a jury in the U.S., Apple lost a case Friday in Japan when a Tokyo judge ruled that its South Korean rival's smartphones and tablet computers don't infringe on the iPhone maker's patents, the latest legal decision in the international struggle between the two companies over intellectual property.

Specifically, Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji found Samsung did not infringe on patents related to synchronizing music and video data in devices to servers, according to a Bloombergreport.

Day 1624 ( Bolt In Legal Battle With Chinese Company )
Wednesday, August 29, 2012

No lunch again so bought some food at a convenient store then went to my apartment and took an early nap. That was all for today.

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Usain Bolt in Legal Battle over his Celebration Pose

Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt has found himself in the midst of a legal battle with a Chinese company over his own image rights.

Liaoning Renxin Trade Co have registered a trademark called true hero that includes a graphic allegedly of Bolt’s image and his iconic celebration gesture of stretching his arm to the sky as if he’s about to shoot an arrow.

Specializing in clothes wholesaling and auto maintenance, Renxin applied for its new trademark True Hero with the Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce in 2010 on clothes, running shoes and sports equipment.

The application on clothes was rejected however because another company had already applied for the same name in that category, but the application for shoes was approved in 2011.

It was the application for sports equipment that caught the attention of Bolt’s team when the trademark was under review at the end of last year.

A Beijing-based trademark agency was subsequently commissioned to file an objection with the trademark office of the SAIC.

Bolt’s attorney Dianne Daley noted that the trademark was a combination of the Chinese characters for true hero and a likeness of Bolt without his authorization, and the image’s dark skin, iconic victory gesture and yellow jersey like the one Bolt wore in the London Olympic Games were indications that the portrait was bolt.

The company however has responded that the portrait does not depict Bolt.

According deputy general manager Ba Yingchun, Bolt’s shooting-arrow pose was very beautiful, but does not mean he has the exclusive rights, and the design of the trademark was just an artistic representation of real life and had no connection with Bolt himself.

Bolt faced a similar situation after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where a woman in the Fujian Province named Xu Luying filed a trademark application for Ugobolt, a name combining Bolt’s surname and his nickname Ugo.

The trademark was declined in last May following objections from Bolt’s team.

Day 1625 ( US Planning to Expand Japan's Missile Defense System )
Thursday, August 30, 2012

Nothing much today either. Just work and back to my apartment.

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U.S. plans to expand Asia missile defenses

The United States is in discussions with Japan about expanding a missile defense system in Asia, the top U.S. general said.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was commenting on a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. is discussing positioning an early warning radar in southern Japan, supplementing one already in place in the country's north, to contain threats from North Korea and to counter China's military.

The State Department, however, said the missile defense system is not directed against China.

Dempsey said no decisions have been reached on expanding the radar. "But it's certainly a topic of conversation because missile defense is important to both of our nations," he told reporters at the start of a meeting with his visiting counterpart from the Self-Defense Forces, Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki, at the Pentagon.

Japan has worked closely with the U.S. for several years on missile defense, and has both land- and sea-based missile launchers.

North Korea's ballistic missiles are considered a threat to security in the Asia-Pacific region because of the risk of conflict erupting on the divided and heavily militarized Korean Peninsula, and because of the secretive North's nuclear weapons program.

Day 1626 ( Earthquake and Tsunami Drill At Main School)
Friday, August 31, 2012

My main school had a earthquake and tsunami drill today. They didn't inform me of it so I sat and watched. Last year, the school that I went to, made me participate. Actually every September 1st they do this disaster drill thing. But because September 1st is Saturday this year, my main school decided to do it today.

Got paid today so I took care of some bills, tax and other stuff.

After my main job, I ran to the YMCA to teach one class then headed back to my apartment.

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Day 1627 ( More Disaster Drills )
Saturday, September 1, 2012

So today is the actual disaster drill day in Japan. Why in September??????

Did my usual Saturday classes at the YMCA.

I have been trying for about a month now to get a replacement credit card shipped to me in Japan. Because it expires this month. But the Jamaican bank that I got my credit card through has a terrible customer care center. I finally managed to get my replacement card today.

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Disaster drills conducted nationwide

Thousands turn out to rehearse responses to future catastrophes

Under cloudy skies and intermittent rain, a flurry of disaster drills took place across Japan on Saturday to prepare for major earthquakes in Tokyo and other areas.

The drills, held on the 89th anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, mobilized a total of 387,000 people, including government officials and residents in Tokyo and 39 other prefectures nationwide, to simulate responses to major temblors in the capital and the Nankai Trough off central and western Japan.

The Tokyo drills, which were coordinated by the central government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Meguro Ward, were based on a magnitude 7.3 earthquake striking northern Tokyo Bay at 9 a.m., registering upper 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7.

Reflecting the latest projections by the metro government, this year's exercise focused on self-help efforts and cooperation with neighbors to reduce damage because it may take hours for professional assistance to arrive.

In the Toranomon area, Cabinet members either walked or biked to the prime minister's office to hold an emergency meeting, as road damage and traffic jams are likely to render vehicle use impractical.

In Yamashita Park in Yokohama, residents practiced evacuating to buildings and other locations by making use of disaster alerts issued to their mobile phones. At Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Co.'s Minatomirai Station, station personnel practiced issuing guidance to stranded commuters.http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120902a2.html
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But while others do disaster drills, look at these guys